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Thursday, January 31, 2013

to be fair, i took down almost all of the christmas decorations at a very reasonable date in early january.

but i left up the wreath, garland, and stockings, because they were just so cute, and well, it was going to look so sad with nothing up, and i had yet to finish my valentine's day garland (post to come soon).

so i finally took it all down january 28th. ashley gave me until friday, but it's all gone now.

not a speck of holiday cheer is left in the house.

well.

except for the candy canes. there are still candy canes in the candy dish.

but they are in valentine's colors so it's okay!

but anyway, since all the christmas cheer has left the house i thought it a good time to post the advent calendar i made for the boy that was well documented in the tumblr but got no love over here.

So how did this ridiculous concoction come about? Well I happened to see two recipes for french toast within a few days of each other. And one night, left to my own devices, I decided to combine the two.

The crunchy inspiration came from this recipe for crispy french toast from a beautiful mess (a blog i read daily).

While that is going, saute up one chopped onion, two cloves of garlic, and your choice of seasoning. I used a bay leaf (which I never use, I don't know why I felt this needed it), pepper, salt, garlic and onion powder, cayenne, and italian herb mix:

Once that is going, say after 7 minutes, add in one or two potatoes, chopped, depending on size, about two cups worth.

When the cauliflower is done, add that in and stir up over medium heat to get everything crispy.

Then add a carton of vegetable stock, cover and let simmer for about fifteen-twenty minutes until the potatoes are tender to the fork.

Pull out your handy dandy immersion blender and go to town until you have this beauty:

Top with some parmesan and call it a delicious day, inside away from the cold

Also, I have a lot of things to put up here, I'm very behind. Graduate school seriously gets in the way of my preferred activities. Maybe I can change topics and write a dissertation on crafts and cooking.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

I think it is fairly well known that I do not know how to ride a bike.

Some may be shocked by such a concept, but people like me are more common than you would think.

There are a variety of reasons that lead to such a state of being, for example:

1. your big sister decided they didn't want to learn and you wanted to be like them

2. When you had that cute pink bike with a white basket and streamers and training wheels, you lived on a hill and there was little biking opportunity

3. Like the hill, you were in a city and there was little chance to ride a bike

So you see, that's how I got to be 25 and not know how to ride a bike. I have been able to live my life up until this point perfectly fine in such a state, biking was never a reasonable or popular means of transportation and I coped with the truth that I would never completely understand the true meaning of the phrase "it's just like riding a bike"

But now I live in a place where biking is so very popular and it is a frequent means of transportation for some of my nearest and dearest. I thought I wanted to learn, but that's kind of a crazy idea, right? I'm much taller than your average six year old, thus further from the ground for the falls that take place when learning how to ride such a device, and I am a severely risk-averse person.

Little did I know Jonathan had set out to get me a bike for me for this very purpose.

He found one.

And it's very adorable.

It's a cruiser, which means I peddle backwards to break and there are no gears to complicate the matter.

But to take a step back, he got me a bike which, while amazing is also terrifying because it means I now have to learn how to ride a bike.

See reasons above for why this is a crazy idea.

But apparently he is confident this will not be an issue.

Uh huh. We'll see.

Step one: sit on the bike.

Check:

(me on my bike right after I got it)

And yes, in addition to being adorable because it is a cruiser, it is also called a Savannah cruise, how appropriate!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Last fall Jonathan was so sweet to drive with me all the way to Arkansas one weekend to visit my grandparents when my papa was sick, don't worry, he is all well now.

But really, 30 hours of driving in four days!

Don't worry, I know I've won with this boy.

But anywho, I wanted to make him something as a thank you, so I decided to make him an ASU scarf because: he likes a scarf, he loves ASU, and he knows that me making ASU paraphernalia is quite a sacrifice given my deep pride in USC.

Of course, my initial speed on the scarf got sidetracked by work (ridiculous!) and then Christmas presents. But I finally finished it over Christmas, just three months after I started!

So, here is what I did:

I wanted a thick scarf but when I was yarn shopping there was no large gauge maroon! Can you believe? So I doubled up and used two strands of yarn to get the bulk I was looking for.

Supplies:

4 balls of lions brand burgundy, US 9

(I used all of two and just a little of the second two)

2 balls of lions brand gold, US 8

(I probably used about a third of the two balls)

2 US 13 needles

Start:

As I said I worked with two balls at a time so I just joined the two ends from each ball and knitted as if it were one strand.

Cast on 30 stitches

Knit rows 1 and 2

For rows 3 and on: knit 3, purl 3,

bringing the yarn to the front/back when alternating between knit and purl.

I wanted to do stripes of maroon and gold so I did a chunk of maroon and then switched to gold and then back again as I saw fit.

A couple of recipes really stood out though, and after making some of my chocolate peppermint cupcakes, I decided to put the leftover frosting to good use with one of the recipes.

Ashley suggested I make a chocolate cookie sandwich with the leftover peppermint frosting, so I did, using this recipe for World Peace Cookies. They are a chocolate slice and bake and thus pretty easy to make with the handy-dandy-stand mixer. Though next time I might consider adding an egg, they could use the extra binding I think.

So, follow the recipe, or maybe add an egg (I'll update you once I test out the adapted recipe),

Slice up the log:

Bake up the cookies and let cool:

And then, apply a smear of frosting to one cookie, and top with another,